Police: Would-Be Rapist Stopped By Alert Officer

Arlington County Police say one of their officers stopped an attempted rape in progress near Drew Model Elementary School in Nauck last night.

The incident happened just before 11:00 yesterday (Monday) night. The officer was walking in the Nauck neighborhood when he heard a woman screaming for help. Using a flashlight, the officer located a man with his pants unbuttoned, attempting to rape a female victim in a wooded area on the 3500 block of 23rd Street S., in the area of the school and the Drew Community Center, according to police.

Dumfries, Va. resident Kenneth Staton, 34, was arrested and charged with attempted rape. He’s being held without bond.

According to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck, Staton met the woman at a nearby bus stop, asked her for a cigarette, and started talking to her, before throwing her to the ground and attempting to rape her. The woman had a “busted lip” but did not require medical treatment, Sternbeck said.

With all the assaults (including rapes) going on in bike paths, etc. in Arlington County, it’s great that the ACPD caught a rapist. Excellent job, ACPD officer. Thank you!

SomeGuy

He’s not a rapist. He’s a “would-be rapist.” And only an alleged one at that.

Observer

Yeah, police make mistakes sometimes. We should just wait until all the facts come out.

Uh, yeah…

I’m sure the perp had a good reason for being outdoors with his pants, struggling with a woman with a busted lip who’s screaming her head off. You’re right–two sides here.

-1000000000000

Uh, yeah…

Meant to type “with his pants down.”

johnnycocoran

His bladder was full!

Were her pants down? Shirt ripped?

She tripped at the bus stop and tried to blame a black dude for taking a leak.

drax

We should wait until a trial before convicting him, that’s all. You know, the bedrock principle of our legal system for thousands of years. You should, like, get over that.

Id

Given the US has only existed since 1789.

Someone that knows him

People’s they didnt make a mistake looks like a duck sounds like a duck it is. Guys from a great family and actually one of the greatest players in Wakefield basketball history. I feel for him and his family who is still grieving a death to a valuable family member who was his angel. Now they are dealing with this.

Resident

So because someone in his life died we should feel sorry for him that he was arrested for attempted rape/assault?

Do no feel sorry for him… at all… and, yes, I knew him a long time ago when he had the opportunity to create positive things with his life.

A waste of many opportunities and much effort on the part of people who tried to help him along the way.

Drax… I can understand… He says he “feels for him” …. I do not. Now “they” are “dealing” what he did… brought it upon himself. Making excuses for behavior… leads to behavior…

drax

Okay, “I feel for him” refers to the accused, not his family. You’re right, Resident.

Someone who knows

Thanks for your prayers. And he is innocent until proven guilty you all have no clue about the real story. It’s funny how the police put out these half ass stories. I pray this chick tells the truth instead of ruining this mans life. The truth will set them both free!!!!!! I cant wait until the truth comes out!!!!

I don’t understand, the officer was out of his car? How’d that happen? I bet if they at least drove around that area more criminals wouldn’t even try to commit a crime knowing that at any minute a police cruiser could pass by. So yea! a bad guy was caught but I’d much rather not have an environment where people think that they can commit rape and get away with it. We need the police out from the school parking lots and hiding behind 7-11’s waiting for call and on the street doing patrols.

tumblebum

There ya go. Give ‘em hell. He was probably just looking for a county tag violation, right?
Imagine. An environment where crime can occur. Egad!

novasteve

The officer must have been off duty.It would have been nice if on duty officers were patrolling instead of looking for tax sticker violators.

SouthArlJD

What a mean thing to say. Do you have any proof he was out looking for “tax sticker violators”? Last time I checked we have parking officers who do that. I’ll agree they’re a royal pain in the butt, but the cops don’t go around looking for tax violations, especially in Green Valley.

novasteve

I didn’t say he was looking for tax sticker violators. I was saying he was off duty, hence why he was out walking, which ON DUTY ACPD do not do.

Quoth the Raven

This is a nice story about stopping a serious crime. Regardless of what you think ACPD should or should not be doing, how about being positive? No need to pollute this.

SouthArlJD

What? What do you know? Fact is the cops DO get out and walk around in high crime areas. That’s a high crime area.

Arlington, Northside

While the officer might have been off duty, cops do “walk the beat” down there and in a bunch of other places in the County.

Again, great job by ACPD>

Banksy

Seriously, novasteve? An officer prevents a horrible crime and all you can do is make a sweeping denigration of police? What a miserable life you must lead.

Kudos to the officer and best wishes to the woman for a fast recovery from a traumatic experience.

gmfbcc

You’re pathetic. This officer did what you’re criticizing officers for failing to do, and you still find a way to criticize him.

You have a tenuous grip at best on reality.

novasteve

Was he on duty or not?

CommonCents

Why would you make an assumption that he’s off duty? Did it say that anywhere in the article or the press release? Wouldn’t a reasonable person assume the cop is on duty unless the story explained otherwise?

Dave

I’m no expert, but I believe cops are off duty more than they are on. Common sense

Id

On or off duty does not matter. Your an enforcement officer 24/7.

Hank

I used to think Steve was just kind of a curmudgeon who liked to rile things up. Now I think he’s genuinely mean-spirited.

novasteve

How I being mean spirited by wishing that ON DUTY police would spend more time patrolling and com munity policing instead of other things. If I’m right, and he was off duty, he could have just decided to not go out that evening and the woman would have been raped since there was no on duty cop there.

Hank

Because you use this incident in which a positive police response prevented a grizzly crime from being committed to promote your undying and unrelenting crusade against the interaction between ACPD and car stickers. Everybody knows you hate that cops spend time looking for expired stickers. We know you think too much ACPD work goes towards enforcing these rules which will only line the coffers of the horribly liberal (and therefore corrupt) Arlington County government. It’s all just a money making scam designed to take money away from patriotic Americans such as yourself.

FYI

It’s a grisly crime he prevented. A grizzly crime is if you illegally shoot a bear.

Hank

Well he might have been a bear, FYI. How do you know he wasn’t a bear? You’re just jumping to conclusions in assuming he wasn’t a bear. Typical.

Scruff

There are two bears within 0.33 miles.

http://Stoneridge StonedRidge

Dude, the only time of the year they bother with this is after Oct. 15, the deadline for paying the tax.

novasteve

It’s Oct. 5.

novasteve

And you aren’t required to put the sticker on until November.

SHLady

Two days ago people were complaining that the police should be ticketing jaywalkers in Clarendon. I say less ticketing jaywalkers, and more great police work like this. Thank you ACPD!

carlynglen

@novasteve – gigantic fail on your part…

nom de guerre

Brofile Cam™ is back!

Batman

Boff!

drax

Nicely done. And yeah, this is because a cop was out and about instead of sitting around waiting for someone to call 911.

tumblebum

Of course if he (and others in your home district) are 2-3 blocks from the cars when you need immediate assistance we’ll hear all about the awful response time. There is no winning in the world of law enforcement.

Evan

Innocent until proven guilty. Lets see how this one plays out.

Quoth the Raven

Excellent point – perhaps he was just adjusting his zipper while she was punching herself in the lip!

Mike

Perhaps he thought the Drew Model Elementary School was a modeling school, and he was looking to pick up a hot model after class but got tired of waiting.

Exactly

+1

Exactly

+1 was meant for the Quoth the Raven comment

Leeway Heights

Interesting that he would be walking in a residential neighborhood. Cops still do that?

Arlington, Northside

Yes, they ride bikes too.

CrystalMikey

Major kudos to the officer!

Buckingham Bandit

Hide your kid, hide your wife?

Arlington Resident

That was the best Arlington basketball player ever.Shame

Arlingtoon

Not sure it’s the same kid — hope not.

Niko

Yup, he was a beast….sad for him, but glad he is behind bars if he did this.

nom de guerre

1996-1997 Second Team All-Met from Wakefield HS.

Googler

Hmmm. An abundance of Kenneth Statons arrested for various offenses over the years. Two of them show up on ArrestCourtInfo.com. Interesting site – they seem to make money by offering to remove the arrest record from their site for a fee. Interesting business model.

SoArl

I’d like to shake that police officer’s hand. How often do cops walk through neighborhoods these days? I’d like to see more of that!

Jason S.

Hmm…that’s good news.

Surprisingly, I saw an ACPD employee outside of his car and actually standing around the Ballston Metro station. What a weird site, very different from idling in a no-parking zone while talking on their cell phone. The cruiser was still blocking buses, though. Either way, it’s an improvement.

CW

Nice work! This is what I like to hear!

Mike Hunt

Hope this guy is on the receiving end, of what he was trying to give out, in the big house!

Claire

What this guy did was horrible, but prison rape is also horrible, and should not be joked about. Let’s all agree that rape should never happen and nobody deserves to be raped.

Mike Hunt

Whilst you might think it is not an ok thing to do; hopefully he is taught a lesson so it doenst cross his mind to even attempt it agian

GodFila

It should be joked about — laughter is our coping mechanism
that provides us the restraint to not want to take justice into our own hands…

This is not really a joke though — I’m fairly certain that many people actually wish this on the perp.

KalashniKEV

Well done!

Could this be the end of ACPDs behind-the-glass approach to Policing?

Will we see adoption of Community Policing techniques?

CW

It seems like ACPD does selectively implement community policing type policies. If you read that article on the serial rapist and murderer that was caught, what cracked the case was the work of a cop who they said had been on the beat in the Valley for 8 years. Why they don’t apply that elsewhere, I don’t know.

KalashniKEV

They must be “undercover” because the only cops in see on the orange line are in their cruisers, burning gas, and having a texting party with each other… or conducting revenue enforcement.

CW

You’re forgetting the ones who put on their lights just long enough to blow through intersections at 50 mph, and the ones who hold up traffic because they’re using their laptops long after the light turns green. And don’t forget about the Walgreens and 7-11 parking lots.

Maybe they deploy beat cops to neighborhoods that are considered “bad”. Unfortunately, it seems that, in their absence, all the “good” areas are seeing plenty of crime.

GodFila

That’s funny – I thought that they all met up
at the Columbia Island parking lot or behind Freddy’s

WeiQiang

There’s no room behind Freddie’s to park … only to smoke. All the ACPD cruisers park along 23rd, so they’re not too far from their designated table at the Sports Pub.

sunflower

harsh…

WeiQiang

I’ll admit that I don’t know that they have a ‘designated’ table. However, most evenings at dinner time, there are 3-6 ACPD vehicles parked on 23rd … not in metered spaces. Just last night, there were several officers sitting at a window table. This is often true at breakfast on weekends.

I’m not complaining nor is it unreasonable for police officers to eat. I was just providing the factual counterpoint to the Godfila’s post. Perhaps [s]he has reason to believe that the po-po are in to poke-poke at Columbia Island, but I doubt it.

Arlington Resident

One crime does not justify another crime and he’s innocent until proven guilty..he may have done it but his pants being unzipped does not make him guilty…and i dont think its even wooded areas in the valley at a bustop

John Fontain

I pray that you are never on a jury.

R

That does sound like the mentality of some of the people I was on jury duty with in Arlington. Make assumptions and create evidence instead of looking at the presented evidence which was never disputed by a defense attorney. I felt like banging my head against the jury room wall.

Arlington cat

When I was on a jury in Arlington we had this other jury guy who said “we need to consider that if we find him guilty, he will be deported.” I said “we were not told that,” to which he replied, “but it’s the law.”

I had to remind my peer that he was not an immigration lawyer or a judge, so he had no business quoting the law.

drax

Better him than you.

John Fontain

why?

Dee

Congrats Officer! I wish they would release the officers name so we can give him/her an award

WHS2000

C’mon Kenny! Wtf were you thinking?!

Someone who knows

Don’t speak to quick. Wait until the story unfolds.

Grateful

I love it when the police are right there to stop these idiots! Like the night a group of guys (heavily drunk…) were about two seconds from a full-fledged fight near my bus stop at Ballston, and just as I was wondering how best to get myself safely out of the way, there come two Arlington cops running up just at the right moment.

Nice work, ACPD! Glad this cop nabbed this idiot and saved this woman from further violation and trauma.

doug drabek

What happened? Any arrests?

Grateful

I’m not sure, because my bus came in the middle of the whole thing, and as it was the last bus of the night for my route, I had to go. But I can say that by the time I got on my bus, one of the two officers had pinned one guy (the one who had appeared to me to be the major instigator) down on the ground with his billy club and then handcuffed him, and the second officer was questioning another of the guys involved (the guy whom the major instigator had been primarily instigating). The rest of the guys had dispersed, so I’m not sure if they were let go or just got away. I looked it up on the crime report later, but I never saw anything, so perhaps there weren’t arrests made?

Mack

What a copblocker.

Tabs

Holy cow. Google the name and you’ll find at least four mug shots of different sex offenders. Is that a designated sex offender name?

CW

I noticed that too!

Googler

I noticed that hours ago and posted it above. First in!

Tabs

Sorry, I thought you were implying that he shows up many times, not same name but different guys.

He’s the least creepy looking one…

Googler

Just wanted my google credit, thanks.

Yeah, the others are really creepy looking.

John Fontain

Mr. Staton,

Andrew “Dice” Clay called and he wants his jacket back.

Observer

owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww…………

Ted

Prediction: There will be no plea bargaining when this case goes to trial.

drax

Nah, Alford plea.

Just Me

Thank you to the ACPD officer for hearing the cry for help and finding her in time to prevent a rape. I see a lot of cop bashing here, I do think we have a good department.

I was not happy when I got a ticket for speeding but the officer did not make me speed, he was just doing what we pay him to do.

sunflower

thank you for your kind words; being a cop can be a thankless job

Family

When one of our own goes through hard times it seems very easy to jump on the bandwagon and hang them out to dry.
Like it says in Matthew chapter 7, don’t be so quick to JUDGE others because you may have your own faults that can place you in a bad situation also.
So all I’m saying is instead of being a self-righteous judge thinking that you are better than the ones you point the finger towards, just take a step back and PRAY for both sides.
We as Christians need to show the love of Jesus Christ to everyone, no one is perfect but GOD.

Resident

Through hard times? HE WAS TRYING TO RAPE SOMEONE! This is not someone who lost a job or lost his home due to a hurricane. HE WAS PURPOSEFULLY TRYING TO HURT ANOTHER HUMAN BEING!

I will pray for him to go to jail, get some job skills while there and some intensive psychological help so that should he come out again he will NOT HURT SOMEONE ELSE.

John Fontain

Criminals laugh their as$$s off at people who think like you.

Someone who knows

The story will all unfold. Keep praying. Arlington county is a trip. And the chick isn’t a saint either. He didn’t go to jail alone!!!!!

Kory Chillingsworth

dude’s jacket looks like it belonged to one of the village people. someone call the fashion police. jesus lord christ on a painted pony…kids these days.

Norm Peterson

[Post removed per comment policy]

Id

it’s comments like this that help me understand why abortion is legal.

Norm Peterson

Why, because abortion helps eliminate people with a penchant for “rape humor?” So are you saying that a woman can somehow sense that her unborn child will make tasteless jokes on local news message boards and decide to preemptively terminate the pregnancy?

The Bible

Having an abortion is no different than skinning your knee.

Noonan

How is this comment still on here?

WHS_2000

Kenny is an idiot! Save the whole “innocent until proven guilty” crap. I fell ZERO empathy for him. He just changed the life of that girl and HER FAMILY in a matter of a few moments. She will never truely be the same.

Everyone can talk ish about the ACPD, but end of the day ACPD keep it pretty safe. Try living in areas of Rt 1, Culmore, etc.

Resident

+1000

bman

west arlington and south arlington!

north arlington is sweet

bman

is he out on bail yet?

Arlington Resident

Normally i reserve comments because he’s innocent until proving guilty…but living in the valley we definatly heard screams of help